We often think of science as the sole domain of researchers who have made it their life’s work. But there’s also room for regular people to get involved. This is especially true in April, which is Global Citizen Science Month.

Citizen science is exactly what it sounds like — the opportunity for laypeople to get involved in science on whatever level of involvement they choose. From bird-watching to weather monitoring to measuring the brightness of the night sky, there is something to satisfy many areas of scientific interest.

One example of a citizen science initiative is the Sahim app, which launched in February. This app, which takes its name from the Arabic word for “contribute,” allows participants to record and upload data related to discarded single-use plastic. The data goes directly to the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi and helps scientists and policy makers create future directives.

Global Citizen Science Month is a collaboration between Arizona State University in the United States, SciStarter and the Library of Medicine. SciStarter, founded by Darlene Cavalier of ASU, has been running Citizen Science Month since 2016.

The program is dedicated to rallying people all over the world and encouraging their involvement in the advancement of science. The month includes programs and events hosted by citizen science project leaders and scientists to call upon people from all walks of life to get involved in scientific research in their communities or on a global scale.

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Involvement in a project can range from one person to millions. People participate in the “development of research questions and hypotheses, data collection, data analysis, drawing conclusions, and disseminating data,” says a team of researchers in a 2021 paper published in Springerlink. And the movement can be crucial for scientific development as data can be collected on a massive scale — data that one scientist could not collect on their own.

SciStarter is an organization that recruits, trains and equips citizen scientists globally. It currently has more than 3000 active and vetted citizen science projects and more than 100,000 participants, both running the research and looking to participate.